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harry potter - How many ghosts haunt Hogwarts?


The PotterMore website says



Hogwarts is the most heavily haunted dwelling place in Britain (and this is against stiff competition, as there are more reported ghost sightings/sensings on these damp islands than anywhere else in the world). The castle is a congenial place for ghosts, because the living inhabitants treat their dead friends with tolerance and even affection, no matter how many times they have heard the same old reminiscences.




So what is the spectral population on the school grounds?



Answer



There are seven named ghosts in the books



  • Nearly Headless Nick: Gryffindor House Ghost

  • The Fat Friar: Hufflepuff House Ghost

  • Helena Ravenclaw: Ravenclaw House Ghost

  • The Bloody Baron: Slytherin House Ghost

  • Professor Binns: History of Magic teacher


  • Moaning Myrtle: Basilisk victim

  • Sir Patrick: Head of the Headless Hunt


We also know that there are at least 20 that are around continually.



About twenty ghosts had just streamed through the back wall. Pearly-white and slightly transparent, they glided across the room talking to each other and hardly glancing at the first-years.
Philosopher's Stone - Chapter 7: The Sorting Hat



And potentially upwards of hundreds.




The dungeon was full of hundreds of pearly-white, translucent people, mostly drifting around a crowded dance floor, waltzing to the dreadful, quavering sound of thirty musical saws, played by an orchestra on a black-draped platform.
Chamber of Secrets - Chapter 8: The Deathday Party



(Though some of the attendees may have been invited from outside Hogwarts)


And then of course you have Peeves, who while not a ghost, is certainly spectral.


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